


Delphinium

by ccaleb_widogast



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Mentorship, So here we are, caleb needs to defend himself, molly being a great teacher, toeing the line between maybe more than friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-05
Updated: 2018-03-05
Packaged: 2019-03-27 07:35:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13876215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ccaleb_widogast/pseuds/ccaleb_widogast
Summary: Mollymauk has taken it upon himself to make sure that Caleb has more means to defend himself than just magic.Based on a tumblr prompt: "How about Molly teaching Caleb a few basics with a dagger or short sword so he won't be so vulnerable in combat?" From an anonymous ask.





	Delphinium

**Author's Note:**

> Once again, thanks for checking out my latest friends!Molly/Caleb fic. This one is based off of a prompt I got on my tumblr. A pretty lighthearted one, this time, and more of a character study and general practice session of balancing combat with dialogue. I hope you enjoy!
> 
> (Delphinium means “big-heartedness,” “fun,” “lightness,” and “levity.” I chose it because sword practice doesn’t always have to be serious.)

“Look, you’re going to have to be able to defend yourself up close if it comes to it.”

“How do you know I don’t already know how to wield a sword?”

There was a scoff. “You can always tell a swordsman from another regular person by the way they look at a naked blade. The way you’re looking at mine right now? It doesn’t speak of experience.”

Caleb was indeed eyeing Mollymauk’s blade a little warily. Though, to be fair, he was more wary of the unnatural properties it had, not the blade itself.

He looked up at Mollymauk, and said, “What if I have spells for close combat?”

Molly immediately waved him off. “Not useful if you’re out of juice. Might not pack a big enough punch. In general, a lot of risks to it.” He hefted his sword, and twirled it dramatically, before flashing a grin at Caleb. “A sword, though… a sword is just hacking and slashing, but with some… finesse.” He brought the blade down in a flourish and it flashed in the sunlight. It was a shortsword, not as pretty as his scimitars, but Molly still wielded it as if it were simply an extension of his arm.

Caleb resisted the urge to roll his eyes. While he had softened up a little bit to Mollymauk, he was still of the opinion that the tiefling could be overdramatic. Caleb was never one for any kind of drama. He liked being able to blend into the background. That was also his preferred method of fighting, if he could get away with hit. He didn’t like the idea of ever being a position to  _ need _ a sword, let alone have the necessity of being proficient with a blade. However, Mollymauk made a fair point. Perhaps it could prove beneficial to have a backup, in case his magic wasn’t an option.

Better than getting trapped or killed.

Grudgingly, he took the proffered sword - a second, simple shortsword that Mollymauk had produced seemingly out of nowhere, and carefully arranged himself so that he was standing like Mollymauk, holding the blade like him as well; one foot forward, the blade held up in what almost looked like a guard salute.

“I don’t see why I couldn’t have just used a dagger,” he muttered.

Molly scoffed. “Daggers are dirty and easy to fumble. You’d find yourself getting it knocked out of your hand more often than not, especially if you weren’t practiced.” He slid forward and tapped his sword to Caleb’s, eyeing the man up and down. “If you’re too tense, you won’t be able to parry anything in time,” he said nonchalantly, before he swung his sword.

Caleb wasn’t quite sure what had happened, except now he was half a step back in shock, his sword had jerked awkwardly across his body in a subconscious attempt to block the swing, and Mollymauk’s sword was now hovering against his neck.

“I- uh, what?” he stuttered, not so gracefully.

Molly laughed and stepped back, falling back into the first position Caleb had attempted to copy. “You need to relax,” he said. He swayed back and forth on the balls of his feet a couple time as if in example. Caleb watched, a little mesmerized how the tiefling somehow made even this tiny movement so smooth and graceful. “Loosen up. Let yourself sway with the breeze, and be ready for an attack from any direction.”

Again, Mollymauk swung his sword, but this time he did it slowly, so that Caleb could watch the arc it traveled towards his neck. This time, Caleb rocked his weight back a little, and raised the sword to intercept. They clinked softly together. Mollymauk nodded in satisfaction and reverted back to the first position.

“This,” he said, gesturing at himself, “Is one of many ‘guard’ poses. You might consider it a default; it guards your sword arm, and allows for easy movement into parries and other guards.”

In demonstration, the tiefling shifted so that the sword was almost horizontal , held high across his body.  “Guard the head,” he said. Then he moved again, so the blade crossed in front of his non-dominant side. “Guard the left side.” Again, with two hands now, the sword pointed down, centered between his legs. “Fool’s guard.” Then back up again, to the first guard.

Caleb was slightly mesmerized by the seamless movement from stance to stance. He knew Mollymauk’s feet moved slightly with each pose, and yet he could have sworn the tiefling was gliding which each shift in stance. With each turn, his robes moved in such a way that Molly briefly appeared to just flow like water, like some otherworldly being, and Caleb was entranced by the sight. He found himself wondering if Mollymauk had ever participated in ceremonial dueling. If he hadn’t, he would make a fine sight trying it out.

Caleb was shocked out of his musings by a light tap to his sword, which had dropped to rest against the ground. He flinched and focused on the red eyes across his. There was amusement in those eyes; somehow Caleb gathered that Molly was precisely aware of how graceful he was when he was wielding his swords. He coughed awkwardly, and lifted his sword back into an imitation of the first guard.

“Try it yourself, now,” is all Mollymauk said.

To start, Caleb didn’t even remember the few guard stances Molly had gone through, so distracted he had been. Molly was kind enough to go back through them slowly with Caleb, correcting the height of his blade and width of his feet at any given moment. It wasn’t particularly hard, but also not particularly riveting, either. Caleb found his mind wandering a little bit, distracted again by the flourish of Mollymauk’s robe each time he changed stances.

It didn’t take long for Molly to catch on to the distraction, and he sighed, though not without a knowing smile. “You know, if you’d just ask, I’ll take it off. You don’t seem to be focusing much on the sword as it is.”

Caleb looked away, flustered. “Ah, it is, well, a little distracting,” he said. “Very flashy, and all that.”

If he looked carefully, Caleb could still tell when Mollymauk rolled his eyes, which he was doing now as he shrugged out of the robe.

Caleb did find it easier to focus after this, especially because Mollymauk started running him through the guards a little faster, until he seemed confident that Caleb had them mostly memorized, or could at least successfully achieve each stance within a short time. 

“Okay, now I’m going to try and hit you a couple times,” said Molly, matter-of-factly. Caleb cast a nervous look at him, but the tiefling shrugged it off. “With the flat of my blade; don’t you worry one bit. Just remember the defenses, and try to pick the one that seems best cut out for the attack.”

Then he started swinging. Caleb could tell that Mollymauk was holding himself back considerably, and swinging slowly at that, but he still had difficulty putting up parries fast enough. But, sure enough, after a couple of slip-ups and  _ tut-tut _ ting from Molly, he began to remember the guards and successfully catch Molly’s blade with his more often than not.

“Not bad, not bad,” said Mollymauk, stepping back as a signal of the first round done. “Nothing that’ll hold up in serious combat, but it sure is a start.”

Caleb snorted softly. “You’re a very motivational tutor,” he quipped.

Molly cocked a grin at him and held his arms out. “I’m the best teacher you could ever have.” This prompted an eye-roll from the human, but otherwise no argument. Mollymauk continued grinning and stepped back into the first guard. Following the trend, Caleb took his own stance again, holding his sword up.

But Molly shook his head. “We’re going to finish with a small lesson you can think about. Go ahead and take a couple swings at me.” He swept his free hand out nonchalantly. “Anywhere you please, in any manner you please. Consider it a prologue to tomorrow’s offensive lesson.”

Caleb frowned in some concern, but did as he was asked. His swing was far less graceful than anything Mollymauk could do, but it swung true, only to parried easily by the tiefling’s blade. Mollymauk danced back a step and took another guard - head guard, it looked. And so Caleb swept his blade down as if to slice into Molly’s belly.

Effortlessly, Mollymauk flipped his blade around in a sequence Caleb couldn’t even follow, and his own sword was knocked back again. The tiefling assumed the pose with the sword pointed down and between his legs. Caleb thought,  _ one more _ , and he was done with this toying. He wondered if Mollymauk was doing this for his own entertainment at this point; it wasn’t like Caleb made a particularly challenging opponent. And so he plunged forward with the blade one last time, this time in a two-handed stab toward the abdomen that he’d seen Fjord do once.

With hardly a move, it seemed, Mollymauk flicked his sword up to meet Caleb’s, glancing the blade just to his right of Molly’s torso. Instead of letting the blade fall back so Caleb could regain his footing, Mollymauk twisted again, catching Caleb’s sword at the hilt, effectively locking him into place for a split second. Caleb was frozen there just long enough to catch a wink from the tiefling, before Molly hefted upward, and sent Caleb’s sword out of his hand with the force of the parry, and Caleb himself stumbling backwards.

Caleb caught himself from falling flat on his bum, but still lay on the ground, staring blankly at his blade, which was a good six or seven feet away from him. He glanced back up at Mollymauk, who was in the process of pulling his robe back on. Molly sauntered - yes, there was no other word for that kind of a walk - over to Caleb and offered out a hand. He was grinning.

“Loosen your grip on the sword a bit,” he said as he pulled the human up. “It sounds like the opposite of what you want to do, I know. But a little looser, a little easier it is to let the blade move with the attempted disarming, while to maintaining a grip. Think about that for next time. Tomorrow, I hope?”

“Ah, sure,” said Caleb. He didn’t know what else he might say; Mollymauk didn’t seem to be giving him an actual choice.

“Good, good.” Molly squeezed Caleb on the shoulder and gave him another wink, before he turned and started walking away. “I’m going back to the inn for a drink. Hold onto that sword!”

Caleb watched him go before going to pick up the blade. He eyed it for a little while and then shrugged. Not so bad, he thought. Nott had been trying to get him to wield at least a dagger for a while, anyway. She’d be ecstatic to hear he was trying his hand at some sword basics.

That thought brought a small smile to Caleb’s lips. He sheathed the sword and began trailing behind Molly, back to the inn. A peaceful evening telling Nott of his lessons and then reading one of his books sounded like a good thing right now.


End file.
